The Gift That Steals
by clanmcg24
Summary: Revision of 'Enter Tiger' -Can something the size of your palm be the greatest threat? The Furious Five, Dragon Warrior, and Master Shifu will each have their parts dealing with the next outlash of evil. But they get some help! PLEASE R&R - TigressXOC
1. Apology & Prologue

Hi guys, I know its been a while... I've done some heavy work with the story. It used to be called 'Enter Tiger', but I've changed my OC to a wolf. I'm trying to stretch out the chapters a bit more, and overall just fix the story... Even I had started to dislike how my story was going, and that's not normally a good sign. Anyway, it follows the same plot, so if you read tit before, it won't be a surprise; or at least much of one. So, sorry about all the wait, I hope I can make it up to you somehow.

* * *

Prologue

"Akunn! Akunn!" She heard his voice again over the insane chaos outside her cell. _Him, _she thought bitterly. Her first thought had been confusion, w_asn't he in Chorh-Gom, rotting?_ Now, she sauntered over the edge of her room, to the window. Normally, there were many guards walking in their formations about the prison. Now, there were very few that were mobile, let alone breathing.

The prison had turned into a slaughterhouse. Blood formed a river, flowing into the draining system. Now, the once honored and arrogant soldiers were nothing but fish darting from a shark.

"Akunn!" She heard him yell again. Akunn turned to see the snow leopard standing over two motionless corpses. Seeing my movement with his feline eyes, he sprinted off in her cell's direction. She made no attempt to conceal myself from him; he had seen her. He reach the barred window and looked in.

"Hello, foxy. How we hangin'?"

"Did you have to kill them all?" She shot back at him lowly.

"Hey now, is that anyway to treat your savior?" He aggressively volleyed.

"Savior?" She volleyed back. "The only thing you've done is get me into this prison."

"Yea, your savior. I even brought you a keepsake to commemorate the occasion. I'm getting you out." The leopard now held up a small necklace, made of some sort of amulate and a string.

"And I'm supposed to trust you since you come bearing gifts?"

"That was the plan. Now, you want O-U-T, out?"

_What could he want this time?_ It seemed simple enough, _he gets me out and I get a necklace?_ _There must be something else, but it'll have to wait. _"What can I say, I want out." She stepped back from the wall, and it immediately fell to the ground as rubble. He held out the gift as if to demand she wear it now. Akunn willingly obeyed his demand. "So I suppose I'll have to help you like I did before."

"No," He replied. "Just wanted to make sure my once-follower didn't rot in jail any longer." Tai Lung ran off with no other words, leaving Akunn among the carnage to find her own way out. Confused, she absent-absentmindedly tied the necklace to her neck. _I suppose he didn't want me after all_, she thought, watching as he disappeared over the prison wall.

She looked around at the scattered guards. It pained her to see so much hurt. _Still,_ Akunn reminded herself, _you are free! Run! Run!_ Immediately, she high-tailed out of her prison of twenty years, ready to again feel the forest floor beneath her paws.

One more thought passed before she brushed it aside. _Had Tai Lung just cared for another person? Or was it just guilt?_


	2. Chapter 1

Some of the fixing of 'Enter Tiger'.

Please note that this looks almost the same as before, but there are many changes within it.

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I am alone, - as I have ever been. No homeland, no friends, no stories. Not so much as a name. It's just me.

I was crouching behind trees and thickets, watching the world about me, as I had been for a few weeks. But not watching just anything.

The female tiger stood at the edge of the monastery, crying softly and quietly. She'd been standing alone here in this state for only a few moments, though I know she felt this way for a few days now. She stopped for a brief second, as if to gather herself up, but her shoulders fall again. She lost the fight against her emotions, and again, tears wet the ground.

I am used to hiding myself in pure daylight; I have been for many, many years. I needed too, so that I remain unnoticed. Now, it was night, but I knew I wasn't hiding from just anyone. The tiger that stood not thirty feet ahead of me was Master Tigress, Master of the Tiger style of Kung Fu; a member of the Furious Five, a very skilled quintet of warriors. As it could be assumed, Tigress had the capability of any feline, seeing and hearing what other animals couldn't notice. She also had a very complicated personality, so let's just say I was being even more careful to remain unnoticed.

During my wandering, I came across a town. My intent was to 'acquire' some food, but I overheard a piece of interesting information while making my way between two huts. There was to be a selection for the Dragon Warrior very soon. Not knowing exactly what that meant, I decided to visit the town it was occurring at, which was thankfully the nearby valley called the 'Valley of Peace'.

When I arrived at the valley, I found that I was too late to see the celebration. The streets were mainly empty, streamers left all over the place. I prowled around the city, looking for any sign of activity, but, again, everyone would asleep after such an exciting event. As I made my way around the city, I stumbled upon an especially 'trashed' set of stairs, leading up a mountain, and still interested, I followed it (staying off to the side, of course).

Eventually, I found myself at a larger, complex building, covered in decorations. This had obviously been the sight for the event. There was a piece of paper on the ground near where I was standing. Without bothering to lean over, I made out the words, "The Dragon Warrior is the highest honor available to a Kung Fu master, as one would be considered the world's most powerful warrior. They would learn the secret of…"

And it was torn off there. I had heard of the Furious Five before, of their accomplishments and triumph over gaping odds. Their names and species, etc. Their action-figures and trader cards, and so on.

And Kung Fu –

Here's as much background about myself that I know. I was raised in a dense forest, by someone who had called me his brother; no father or mother. He was too old to be my brother; and he wasn't even the same species! Nonetheless, I believed him. I _wanted_ to call him a brother, I _needed_ family. We, just like I do now, constantly hid and traveled. **He** was the person who introduced me to the world of Kung Fu. He taught me the different stances and attack maneuvers, until he knew no more than I did. He and I practiced whenever we could, and he assured me that I could protect myself, if I needed to one day.

He was a raccoon, a natural scavenger. I was a wolf, slightly larger, but also capable of remaining unseen. Considering we tried to remain hidden, we had no choice but to steal for our food. He told me that it was necessary that we stayed hidden and steal, that he was wanted somewhere and couldn't be found. The thought never really held in my mind. I tried whenever I could to make use of the forest, doing my best not to take from others, but sometimes it was unavoidable. My 'brother' on the other hand, did not try to resist...

On a sad day in the middle of spring, during what I know to be the worst storm ever, he and I had tried to cross a river. There were people searching for us: we had tried to snag food from them and failed. We found a log spanning the river and began to cross it, while the river raged below us. A lighting bolt flashed -I can see it clearly in my head today- and splintered the log between us. I had been behind him, on the rooted side of the fallen tree, and was forced to watch as his end of the tree fell, with him on it, into the swirling death trap below. The last glimpse of him I have is, him, clinging to the log, shouting as quickly as possible "Don't risk it." He knew I would have jumped in after him. But, with that, he disappeared among the river's flailing arms.

Horror-stricken, I ran along the shoreline, not caring if the merchants saw me, hoping he would resurface somewhere…-

I glanced up from the paper. A small gust caught it a pulled away. I heard talking, from inside the building. Cautiously avoiding the firelights, I walked around the perimeter of the monastery. The voices grew louder, and I heard, "You shouldn't be here." The voice was very feminine, and also, surprisingly feline. I froze.

"I know, right? You room, and…"

"No, I mean at this monastery. If you're smart, you'll be gone by morning." And then the muffled slam of a door.

"Big fan?" came the gentle response, from a hurt, male voice.

To keep a long story short, I stayed around the palace, watching and observing who, what, where, when and why. The owner of this feline voice was one of the Furious Five, the one known as Master Tigress. I spent the next few days and nights studying the behavior and actions of such an _intriguing_ person. After a while, just from eavesdropping, I knew just who each person at the Jade Palace was, while keeping secret from them all.

Master Tigress was crying because she knew that a clumsy panda, who I discovered was the male voice previously mentioned, had defeated an opponent she and the other four could not. This may not have been so horrid by itself, but she had shown the panda, called Po, absolute distaste since laying eyes on him. Being so full of self-esteem and confidence, and now knowing that every, single, thing she had said turned out to be wrong, she was in a horrible state of mind. Not to mention, she wasn't the type to let any personal feelings effect her. It was almost brutal – No! It _was_ brutal to see such a strong person falling apart in front of me.

As I crouched, Po walked up behind her, and, noticing she was upset, he walked over to her, making sure she knew he was there by humming. She noticed, and tried to bottle her emotions back up, and calm herself.

Po asked innocently, "Is everything alright?"

After glancing toward the inner of the monastery and taking a deep breath, the sad tiger again slumped and tried to keep in her emotions. She managed to say through a small gasp, "I'm so sorry." Relieved she had said what troubled her most, she calmed enough to continue: "I… I have treated you very poorly since meeting you. I feel like, like… a complete failure. You… you defe-… You defeated Tai Lung." She sniffed again.

Preventing her from continuing, Po said, "It's really ok, I mean, I didn't think I belonged here either…" Pause. "I even told Master Shifu that after he decided I needed to stay. I mean, sure, you didn't exactly...- I understand how you felt." Seeing that he had helped her some, he quieted to wait for a response. When none was given but a friendly, teary-eyed stare, he continued, "Don't brew on that, ok? Me and the others are getting some food ready for a light dinner. Yours will be waiting for you when you want it, but, please, take your time, alright?" She nodded in approvement, and returned her gaze to the surrounding valley as the panda walked away.

Moments passed, and her beauty shined in the sunset. I lost myself so much in it that my footing slipped and a branch snapped beneath my feet.


End file.
